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Wednesday, 27 June 2012

One of my team mentioned to me that although had an interest in food he couldn't cook. After asking a few questions it did seem that he knew how to cook almost nothing. It doesn't surprise me as if you don't have a parent or similar who has an interest in cooking then it is quite hard to learn. Most recipe books are quite inaccessible and assume a basic level of knowledge.
So I set him the challenge of cooking a meal. I will post his results once he's made the meal next week.
I chose one of my favourite simple, one pot meals and tried to write the recipe as clearly as possible. This recipe is not necessarily authentically Spanish but originally it was given to me by a friend's Spanish mum, hence the name.
If anyone else knows someone who claims not to be able to cook ask them to have a go at this recipe and send me a photo and/or comments to let me know how they get on.

Easy Spanish Chicken

Serves 4 but can be easily halved or doubled

Ingredients:
4 chicken portions like the ones in the photo below or you could use 8 chicken thighs instead.
Salt and pepper
Two large peppers maybe a different colours
Two large onions
Two large potatoes (I leave these out to make it 'cleaner')
Two cloves of garlic (these are the small ‘segments’ from a whole bulb)
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 head of broccoli
Water
Equipment:
An oven
A large pan or dish which is oven proof
A knife
A chopping board
A tin opener
A wine glass
A saucepan
A strainer (if you have one)

Turn your oven on to pre-heat. You want the temperature to be 180C. If the oven is a fan oven you always have to put the temperature 20C less so it would need to be set to 160C. This is about 350F or Gas Mark 4
Take a large pan or dish, which is able to go in the oven. Something like a lasagne dish would be good. If you don’t have one large dish two smaller ones will do, but don’t be tempted to squash everything into one small one.
Get 4 chicken portions and place them in a single layer in the dish. Remember when handling chicken that you need to make sure that the raw chicken doesn’t touch anything that won’t be cooked so once you have put the chicken in the pan, wash your hands and anything the chicken has touched well.
Sprinkle salt and pepper over the chicken you want a pinch of each.
Cut the peppers in half and cut out the stalk out of the pepper and all of the seeds and throw these away. Take the pepper halves and cut each one into four roughly equal pieces. Scatter these on top of the chicken.
Peel the onions. This is easiest if you cut the top and bottom off the onion and then cut the onion in half first. Cut each half into 3 wedges. Scatter these on top of the chicken.
Cut the potatoes into half and cut each half into quarters scatter these on top of the chicken. There is no need to peel them.
Peel the garlic and chop it into small pieces. The smaller the better. You can also crush it a little with the flat side of a knife.
Take the lid off the tin of tomatoes and put them in a bowl, stir in the tomato puree and the garlic.
Spoon the tomato into 4-6 small piles around the chicken and vegetables and then carefully pour a small wine glass worth of water around the edge.
If the pan or dish you are using has a lid put it on. If not take a piece of tin foil and place it over the top and scrunch the sides to make sure it stays on.
Put the dish into the oven and set a timer for 1 hour. Check it about half way through by lifting up a corner of the foil. Be careful of the steam. If it looks dry add another wine glass full of water.
After 45 minutes take some broccoli and cut it into smaller pieces or ‘florets’ place it in a pan of boiling water and cook it for 3-5 minutes. I tend to boil the water in a kettle first for speed but you can boil the water in the pan just pop the lid on else it will take ages to boil. Drain the water off the broccoli using a strainer. If you don’t have one if you are careful you always fish them out with a spoon or fork.
After an hour take the chicken out of the oven and serve with the broccoli.

Monday, 25 June 2012

I love fresh fruity sorbet's and ice creams. There used to be a fab little place in Ealing which sold a huge variety, but since it closed I've been missing my fix.

Although they did more interesting flavours I always really enjoyed their green apple sorbet so decided to have a go at recreating my own version.

I love Pink Lady apples. They are so much sweeter and juicier then most varieties of apple and as they are naturally so sweet it meant I had to add very little sugar.

This recipe is so simple. I started by making a apple purée as the base by cooking 8 apples chopped into rough chunks (pips, skin and all), adding 1 tbsp of caster sugar and the juice of half a lime for some zing plus a small glass of water and cooked until the apples were soft and starting to fall apart. I let it cool for a few minutes and then sieved the mixture to end up with a smooth purée which was a lovely pale pink colour without adding and food colouring. I popped the purée into the fridge to chill.

Once cold I churned in my ice cream maker until frozen.

I have one of the basic ice cream makers which you freeze the bowl and then churn the mixture until frozen. It's not great and I want to buy the ice cream maker attachment for my Kitchen Aid but unfortunately I can't justify that at the moment. In the meantime it does the job! If you don't have an ice cream maker you can place the mixture in the freezer and give it a good stir every hour or so to break up the ice crystals.

Once frozen either eat immediately or pop into a freezer proof container and freeze until you want to use it.

I served the sorbet by piling spoonfuls into a glass and topping with a spring of mint. Such a lovely, light and relatively healthy pudding.

Sunday, 24 June 2012

As much as I love red velvet cake I always question if it really is a good idea to use the best part of a bottle of food colouring purely for the visual effect.

Now this isn't a virtuous cake from the point of view of fat or calories or anything but rather because it uses all natural ingredients to achieve the colour rather than red food colouring.

I wasn't really sure where to start with this recipe other than thinking that beetroot and raspberries both made very red smoothies/juices so probably had a reasonable chance of replacing the colouring. I looked at lots of recipes for red velvet cake, carrot cake and chocolate and beetroot cakes. I also looked at Harry Eastwood's book as she uses a lot of vegetables.

None of them had a recipe for red velvet, with no food colouring so I made one up. The mixture was slightly wet so next time I might use less liquid and it isn't quite the same flavour so I think I'd use maybe 1 tbsp more of cocoa but I have to say I'm pleased with the over all result. In particular that I managed to get a good depth of colour with all natural ingredients.

In a heavy based frying pan start by browning the chicken on each side in a little oil. Add the onions and once softened add the garlic. After a few minutes add the remaining ingredients apart from the balsamic and basil. Add a wine glass full of water. If the pan has a lid put it on. Turn the heat down and cook for about 20 mins. Check the chick is done. Stir in the balsamic vinegar and most of the basil. Finish with the remaining basil and grated Parmesan. Serve with a green salad.

Here is the finished dish.

I am going to submit this recipe as part of the New June Herbs on Saturday blog challenge.

I love herbs and a you can see from previous posts I cook with then a lot. Since I've moved I have a small garden and am now the proud owner of a little herb garden. It's not much and I've focused on pretty standard herbs, but it's mine and I've been caring for it and watching it flourish and I'm proud of it (I have tried growing some Thai basil but as I type the little seedlings are curling up and giving up).

This is such a simple risotto; creamy, comforting and restorative. It's amazing how so few ingredients can come together to make such a wonderful dish.

Feel free to experiment, add chicken or use red wine instead of white, the beauty of a risotto is that you can adapt it to whatever you have in the kitchen.

On this occasion though it was Friday night and I was eating on my own so I wanted something simple, plus I hadn't been shopping for a while so there were a limited choice of ingredients to choose from.

It's a great dish to make after a stressful week at work. I find the gradual adding of liquid and repetitive stirring somehow therapeutic. Add some gentle music and feel the tension melt out of your bones.

Ingredients

Serves one but can easily be doubled

1 small onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
Olive oil
A couple of handful's of risotto rice. I used arborio.
A small glass of white wine
Good quality chicken stock, heated up. I always make some after each roast chicken and keep it in the freezer
1/2 lemon, zest and juice. I always try to buy waitrose's as you seem to get some much more juice for your money from them
A large bunch of soft herbs such as parsley, mint, chives and basil, finely chopped
Plenty of Parmesan
Seasoning

In a heavy based pan sweat the onion off in a little olive oil. You're aiming to just soften them without adding colour. After a few minutes add the garlic, lemon zest and the risotto rice. Again keep the heat low. You're aiming to get no colour. Once the rice starts to turn translucent add the white wine and stir until it has absorbed. Add a ladle of hot chicken stock and stir until it has absorbed. Keep repeating this until the rice is softened but still al dente. This will take 30-40 mins. You don't need to stir all of the time but make sure you stir frequently. Patience is the name of the game. The slowly the stock is absorbed the creamier the end result is. If you want to cheat you can add an egg yolk and a spoonful of cream or creme fraiche but I prefer to leave this out.

Once cooked finish by stirring through herbs, lemon juice, a handful of parmesan and seasoning. Serve and top with a few extra herbs and extra Parmesan if desired.

Here are the herbs I used.

And this is the finished dish

I am going to submit this recipe as part of the New June Herbs on Saturday blog challenge.

I love herbs and a you can see from previous posts I cook with then a lot. Since I've moved I have a small garden and am now the proud owner of a little herb garden. It's not much and I've focused on pretty standard herbs, but it's mine and I've been caring for it and watching it flourish and I'm proud of it (I have tried growing some Thai basil but as I type the little seedlings are curling up and giving up).

Friday, 22 June 2012

If I do say so myself this recipe is a stunner. It's one of those dishes which is far greater than a sum of its parts. It takes a very long time
to cook but the preparation is quick and easy and as I was hosting a little dinner party for friends directly after working a long day this was just the dish.

It's an adaptation of a James Martin recipe I found years ago on the BBC website. Over the years it's changed a little bit from the original.

You will need:
A shoulder of lamb
4 cloves of garlic
Half a tin of anchovies
4 sprigs of rosemary
A handful of thyme
2 bay leaves
300ml red wine (replace this with water to make it 'cleaner')
300ml water
2 tins tomatoes
2 tins butter beans (leave these out to make it Paleo)
3 tbsp tomato purée
One beef stock cube
Seasoning

Serves 4-6

I start by taking a shoulder of lamb and making deep incisions all over the joint. In each incision I put a piece of anchovy, a few of rosemary leaves and a slice of garlic. For a whole shoulder I'd use about 8 anchovy fillets, two large garlic cloves and a couple of sprigs of rosemary.

I then heat up some oil in a large my oven proof pan which also had a lid and sear the meat on both sides. Once browned remove from the heat and in the juices gently fry 2 chopped onions and 2 cloves of sliced garlic. Add a bunch of thyme, a couple of sprigs of rosemary and a couple of bay leaves (preferably fresh. I get mine from my friends garden).

Once the onion is translucent and golden, place the shoulder of lamb back in the pan and add about 300ml red wine, two tins of chopped tomatoes, two tins of butter beans, about 3 tablespoons of tomato purée, a beef stock cube (I use Kallo as it doesn't contain MSG) a small amount of salt (as the anchovies and stock are both salty), plenty of black pepper and about 300ml water.

Give it a good stir, put the lid on and place in an oven pre-heated to 140C. Cook for 8-12 hours checking occasionally to stir the mixture and add more water if it starts I get more dry. When you remove from the oven spoon off any excess fat. By this point it is so soft and unctuous that I serve it in the pan it was cooked in and simply use a couple of forks to pull apart the meat.

The original recipe serves it with mash but as it has the beans in the sauce I just serve with mixed green veg. In this case I blanched some green beans, sugar snap peas and asparagus and then drained them and dressed them with lemon juice, rapeseed oil and chopped mint.

I love herbs and a you can see from previous posts I cook with then a lot. Since I've moved I have a small garden and am now the proud owner of a little herb garden. It's not much and I've focused on pretty standard herbs, but it's mine and I've been caring for it and watching it flourish and I'm proud of it (I have tried growing some Thai basil but as I type the little seedlings are curling up and giving up).

Tuesday, 5 June 2012

I have been meaning to write up this post for a while, but life has got in the way. A couple of weeks ago my mum and I went to the Christchurch food festival in Dorest. It's a well established festival and has a food market and various events. On the Saturday there were various demo's and we attended two. The first was Paul Potts from local restaurant Splinters and the second was the lovely James Martin.

Paul Potts made the following recipes:

Seabass fillet on tomato and red onion tarte tatin

Pan fry 5 cherry tomatoes, halved, season, add basil oil and chopped red onion and put into a 4 inch flan dish. You can arrange the tomatoes to all face the same way if you like. Top with a circle of puff pastry and bake in a hot oven for about 15 mins until golden.

Take a fillet of sea bass and at the wide end cut out a 'V' shape. This should remove any stray bones. Sear the fish in a hot pan, skin side down. Once brown and crispy turn over and top with a knob of butter.

Turn out the tart, top with the sea bass and drizzle with basil oil and a little balsamic vinegar and garnish with pea shoots.

Tuna Warm Salad Nicoise with Basil Oil

Boil 6 asparagus spears for a couple of minutes. Add a handful of sugar snaps to warm through. You want them to still retain their crunch. Whilst they are cooking fry 3 cooked new potatoes, cut in half, a few cherry tomatoes (roasted if desired) and a few olives.

Make a dressing of 3 parts oil, one part white wine vinegar, wholegrain mustard, chopped parsley, chives and seasoning.

Season a tuna steak, sear in a little oil. Only cook for a few minutes on each side as it is best served pink. Add a knob of butter to the top and put to one side to rest.

Serve the vegetables, dressed with the vinegarette and topped with seared tuna and pea shoots.

Scallop and Bacon Salad with Toasted Pine Nuts

Remove the roe from the scallops and the little muscle. Add a little oil to a hot pan and fry the scallops and some strips of bacon.

Julienne (finely shred) a carrot, courgette and half a leek. Add the fried strips of bacon, salad leaves, vinegarette and seasoning and toss. Top with the scallops and a drizzle of basil oil.

Scallops with Curried Parsnip and Apple Puree

Prepare the scallops as above.

Fry some cooked parsnips and apple together, add a little curry powder and seasoning and stock and blend to a smooth puree.

Serve by placing each scallop on a spoonful of puree.

James Martin made the following recipes:

Pea and Watercress Soup

Sweat one crushed clove of garlic and 1 finely shredded shallot in a some butter.

Bring some chicken or vegetable stock to the boil and add a glass of white wine. Add, a bunch of parsley, the garlic and shallot, a bag of watercress (holding back a few sprigs for garnish). frozen peas and seasoning. Blend.

Boil and egg in water for 5.5 minutes. Peel the egg carefully. Dip in flour, then beaten egg and then breadcrumbes and deep fry until golden.

Blanch some asparagus and then warm through in a little butter.

Serve the soup, topped with the asparagus and the egg with the top cut off, a sprig of water cress and a piece of crispy bacon.

Lamb Salad

Blanch some asparagus and put in iced water.

Remove the sinew from a loin of lamb and quicklysear in a pan in rapeseed oil. The pop it into a hot oven for 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and pour over some sweet chilli sauce and put to one side to rest.

Make a pickle from some chopped radishes, the blanched asparagus, chopped cucumber, shallots, turnip (sliced on a mandolin), lime zest and then pour over a dressing made by putting white wine vinegar, a big pinch of sugar, a pinch of salt and the juice of a lime in a hot pan.

Serve by placing the pickle on a plate. Topped with slices of the lamb, a few sprigs of watercress and a few mint leaves. Drizzle with rapeseed oil.

Summer Pudding

Take a dariole mould or a tea cup and line with cling film. Cut the crusts off some cheap white bread and cut circles for the bottom of the mould and strips for the side.

Blend some fresh strawberries with some frozen berries, icing sugar and a little water and sieve to make a sauce, dip the bread in the sauce and line the mould. Mix more fresh strawberries with frozen berries and basil and squash into the mould, add a spoonful of clotted cream to the mould and top with a rough of bread dipped in the sauce. Release from the mould and drizzle over the rest of the sauce. Top with fresh berries, a clotted cream quenelle, a basil leaf, a dusting of icing sugar and some sugar work. You can make a sugar swirl by wrapping cooled sugar syrup around a steel (for a smaller one) or a rolling pin (for a larger one).

After being out of the country for the royal wedding last year I decided to throw myself into the Jubilee celebrations with abandon. So liberal amounts of red, white and blue later a Jubilee afternoon tea was ready for my friends.

For the savoury elements I decided to keep it relatively simple. My take on coronation chicken, revamped into a fresh salad, which would have jewelled with pomegranate seeds (had I not left them in the kitchen) plus salmon, cream cheese and pickled cucumber sandwiches, cheese and chutney sandwiches, chicken and lemon mayonnaise sandwiches and ham sandwiches This was all washed down with some bubbly with a non alcoholic version for my pregnant friend and the drivers.

For the sweet elements I had such a long list to chose from, but I manage to narrow it down by prioritising the ones which were most in keeping with the red, white and blue theme (plus the lime cupcakes as you can see from previous posts I love lemon drizzle cake and I'd been meaning to try experimenting with a lime version for ages)
- raspberry cupcakes
- lime drizzle cupcakes
- blueberry and lemon cupcakes
- mini Victoria sponge
- individual eton mess

At least and hour before use a potato peeling the slice the cucumber into ribbons. Put them into a bowl and toss in a generous glug of white wine vinegar, a large pinch of sugar and seasoning.

Spread the bread with a thin layer of cream cheese. Add the smoked salad and a few ribbons of cucumber. Top with another slice of bread and cut into triangles of fingers, with or without crusts as desired.

Out the chicken into a bowl and add the mayonnaise. I would normally make this using Jamie Oliver's recipe but my friend is pregnant and therefore can't eat raw eggs so I tarted up bought mayonnaise with a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, a squeeze of lemon juice and seasoning.

Sandwich the chicken mixture, with a few lettuce leaves, between two slices of bread.

For the flavourings and icings:
Zest and juice of 1/2 lime
2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
Zest of 1/4 lemon and about a tablespoon of juice
About 10 raspberries
Freeze dried raspberry powder
12 Blueberries
8oz butter
8-10oz icing sugar
A tablespoon of milk

Preheat the oven to 180C (160C in a fan oven). I started by making all of the cake plain for ease. Beat together all of the ingredients for the cake and share the mixture between 12 muffin cases.

In 4 sprinkle the lemon zest and another 4 with lime zest and give them a gentle stir with the end of a teaspoon so the zest doesn't sit on the top. Leave the other 4 plain.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 mins.

While they are cooking mix a tablespoon of granulated sugar with the lime juice. As soon as the cakes come out take the 4 lime ones and make very small holes in them with a skewer and drizzle over the lime juice mixture.

Whilst the cakes are cooling make the icing. I always beat the butter for 5 mins or more until it is very pale and then gradually add the icing sugar and finish with the milk. This makes the icing very light and fluffy and also makes it much paler which is good when you're aiming for white!

In a small saucepan take the raspberries and the other tablespoon of sugar and heat up until it has thickened slightly. To get smooth icing sieve the raspberry mixture to remove the pips. Put to one side to cool.

Split the icing into two bowls. In the one add the lemon juice. In the other add the raspberry juice.

Pipe the icing onto the cakes. I used a round nozzle for the lemon icing and a Wilton 2D for the raspberry. I topped the lemon ones with blueberries and the raspberry ones with a sprinkle of raspberry powder.

I also had a few little union jack flags which I popped in the top.

Mini Victoria sponges
Makes 2

Using the same recipe as for the cakes above split the mixture between two 4 inch cake pans.

Once cool split each cake and sandwich with whipped cream and strawberries.

Sunday, 3 June 2012

What could be more British than planning a BBQ on a slightly rainy bank holiday? BBQs remind me of my childhood. Come rain or shine we would BBQ at every opportunity. I particularly remember the rainy ones. My Grandad getting out the hair dryer to encourage slightly damp coals to burn hotter and my dad holding a golf umbrella over the BBQ whilst I cooked wearing a waterproof particularly stick in my mind.

Fortunately this Saturday the sun broke through the clouds shortly before the fire was lit. I wanted to keep things simple so I made some burgers and chicken and chorizo kebabs. People often think of BBQs are unhealthy but with a little thought they can be healthy and clean.

For the kebabs I took cubes of chicken breast, slices of chorizo and a mixture of vegetables. I threaded them onto skewers and marinated in a simple marinade for about 3 hours. For the marinade I chopped a mixture of parsley, basil and mint, added a teaspoon of wholegrain mustard, a tablespoon of red wine vinegar, a crushed garlic clove, seasoning and a good glug of olive oil.

The burgers were made by mixing beef mince with an egg, seasoning, a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, chopped rosemary and a crushed garlic clove. I then formed them into patties. I added a bit too much egg which made the mixture sticky so I dusted each with flour before cooking.

The trick to a good BBQ, for me, is to constantly turn the meat. Far more often than people normally do and also make sure the grill is not too low. This ensures that the meat doesn't burn before it is cooled.

Here are the cooked kebabs and burgers.

Serve with a green salad and a jug of Pimms to wash it all down! Obviously the Pimms isn't healthy so keep this as a treat!